Open source needed to save democracy

“Despite open software’s popularity in some sectors of the
community, and the success of some projects, the movement as a
whole has failed to defend its own future against the threat of
laws designed to regulate the flow of information, such as the US
Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), and, before it, the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

“In part, that’s because many open-source developers have an
attitude problem, says Perens. ‘Let’s face it; most of us don’t
even like users. We call them ‘lusers’. We make the software for
ourselves and the other developers. Why should we like them?’

“Nothing is more annoying, said Perens, than the complaining
user who says that the software stinks, when he’s never contributed
anything himself.”

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